Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Helenium hybrida cultivar Helbro.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Helenium plant, botanically known as Helenium hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Helbroxe2x80x99.
The new Helenium was discovered as a chance seedling of two unidentified selections of Helenium hybrida, not patented. The new Helenium was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 1996 as a single flowering plant in a controlled environment in Worcester, United Kingdom.
Asexual reproduction of the new Helenium by cuttings was first conducted in Worcester, United Kingdom in June, 1996. Since then, asexual reproduction by divisions has shown that the unique features of this new Helenium are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Helbro has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Helbroxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Helbroxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Helenium:
1. Upright and somewhat outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Freely basal branching growth habit.
3. Freely flowering habit.
4. Large upright-facing inflorescences with yellow and red bi-colored ray florets.
5. Strong and erect peduncles that tolerate wind and rain.
Plants of the new Helenium differ primarily from plants of the parent selections in ray and disc floret coloration.
Plants of the new Helenium can be compared to plants of the Helenium cultivar Coppelia, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Worcester, United Kingdom, plants of the new Helenium differed from plants of the cultivar Coppelia in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Helenium were larger than plants of the cultivar Coppelia.
2. Plants of the new Helenium had larger leaves and inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Coppelia.
3. Plants of the new Helenium were more freely flowering than plants of the cultivar Coppelia.
4. Plants of the new Helenium and the cultivar Coppelia differed in ray floret coloration as plants of the cultivar Coppelia had red-colored ray florets.
5. Plants of the new Helenium had stronger, longer and thicker peduncles than plants of the cultivar Coppelia.